The year in numbers: Sydney property market in 2017

Although there has been a dip in prices since June, Sydney remains the highest-priced capital city in Australia ahead of Melbourne, which has also continued to grow strongly this year.

Sydney’s median property price currently stands at $1,167,516 (as of September), which is significantly higher than the median of $1,123,991 recorded in the same month in 2016.

Price growth has continued in a range of suburbs this year with highlights including Forrestville (32.6%), Hunters Hill (32.2%), Lane Cove (27.4%), Freshwater (22.9%) and Newport (22.2%).

The region to experience the highest growth was Sydney’s Northern Beaches, which experienced average price growth of 19.2 per cent for the year to September 2017.

Auction clearance rates have also remained solid with Sydney returning a healthy rate of 64.4 per cent in early November. The volume of homes going to auction has also held up well with almost 1,100 auctions undertaken across the city on the first weekend of November.

In good news for first-time buyers, the official housing finance data showed that more first-home buyer mortgages were being approved, lifting 0.2 per cent to 17.4 per cent over the month. This shift coincides with a fall in investor lending for Sydney property over the past 12 months.

Commonwealth Bank chief economist James Craig said while the property prices nationwide were softer than a year ago, Sydney had bucked the trend.

“Almost across the country, there are softer readings for annual changes in home prices. Sydney prices are up a still healthy 7.7 per cent on a year ago, but this is the slowest growth in 11 months,” Mr James said in a recent economic note.